Evolution
by Brianna Jackson
Summary: Years after the disbandment of factions, the world within the walls finally at peace, Tris and Tobias try to rebuild their lives.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Divergent.

By definition the word means "tending to be different or develop in different directions". Caleb had taught me that, when he'd first come to find me in Dauntless after he'd become factionless. It wasn't a bad thing, he'd assured me. At least by definition it wasn't.

Slowly but surely, the people within the city walls are beginning to believe that. It takes a lot of convincing. Without factions, people that are classified as Divergent are free to roam, take pride in who they are as if they were granted a faction like most of the population. The government officials have said many times we are not a threat, contrary to what they were told to believe. But old habits die hard and I try to ignore the way people cower when I come into contact with them.

I don't know how much that has to do with me being Divergent, more or less just who I am. Beatrice by birth, Tris by choice. Abnegation turned Dauntless turned rebel turned enemy, then back again.

Things were different now that factions were not a thing. Though many people still classified themselves as such, no one could shun them for wanting to be something of the others. Housing was mixed, clothing from one's former faction was burned, lives were intermingled. For the first time, it was common to see two people, both who'd belonged to different lifestyles before, come together as one. Be friendly towards one another.

It was a beautiful sight, really. Just not one I was too familiar with yet.

I hadn't set foot in the grey slacks from Abnegation in what felt like years. It had to be about five, maybe six. I just turned twenty-one, I know that, I'm just not too sure when. But today, I shrug on a grey shirt, one from the trunk I'd brought with me to Dauntless, surprisingly clean, fresh smelling, like the soap my mother used to wash our clothes.

My mother. My heart yearns for her, still, even as the years go by. We'd yet to open the gates, to let the outside in, but I'd still feel my parents would be proud of the progress we'd made as a whole. This is what we worked for, what they'd _died_ for. No oppression but freedom, not just for the Dauntless. The thought helps me sleep at night.

I'd traveled to the Abnegation village just yesterday. They don't call it that anymore but even so, people I'd grown up with all my life still live in their homes though Candor's and even some Erudite's have occupied free spaces. My house is being lived in, I'd discovered. A young couple. The women Erudite, the man Dauntless. They are expecting a child.

I only wish that when homes were set to be sold - given to the factionless in apart of the deal for peace - I'd chosen one closer to home. Maybe in between the Dauntless headquarters and Abnegation. Both sides of me.

But Tobias didn't wish too. "I want to be as far away from it all as I possibly can," he'd grunted when I proposed the idea. We were free but the demons of dead friends and allies and torture still haunted us everywhere we went. I could understand his wanting to be far away like he could understand my wanting to be close.

We settled on a small cottage - formally Erudite - near the walls surrounding the city. "For easy escape." Tobias tells me.

There is no reason to escape, not anymore. Maybe it's naive of me to think that way. Things could easily get bad again, I'm just hoping they won't. For now, we've learned to live in peace and balance. The new government, the one consisted of elected leaders, seem to be working nicely for now. And though their are no official factions, everyone takes up the same jobs they always have.

I work guarding the gates with Christina, sometimes patrolling the streets to ensure no violence is occurring, mostly between Erudite and Dauntless. Tensions still arise there from time to time as expected. I, myself, find it hard to look the people in blue in the eye sometimes.

Anyway, the job was given to me, only after Tobias pushed aside the rules for me. Christina had no problem getting the job, her build and all. I, on the other hand, was still too small, too weak, in the eyes of the Dauntless. It was ridiculous, really, being the work I'd done for them had almost cost me my life more times than truly necessary.

But Tobias, who'd become one of the leaders of the new "justice" department as they called it, went ahead and shoved me through the door, past all their reservations, assuring them I'd be fit for the job. Of course, he kept me out of harms way, away from all the fun stuff. But I could live with what I had. For now, that is.

My fingers run across the mattress to where Tobias once was. Instead of the firm, warm body I'm used to, I'm greeted by the cold chill of the sheets under my fingertips. The clock on the wall tells me it's a little past six. It's Saturday, which means he gets to abandon his duties, if only for a day, and do whatever he pleases. I realize he probably didn't sleep.

On his days off, he tends to just walk around. Only speaking if spoken to, ignoring most of the people he meets on the street. Sometimes ignoring me but that doesn't happen often. Once, he's gone to see his mother, Evelyn, for a short visit at the headquarters. He never sees his father though I've heard he lives a short ways from here. I wouldn't know but I bet Tobias does.

I sigh, my bare feet touching the ground. I make my way to the bathroom first, showering away the filth I feel on my body, brushing my teeth and combing my hair. I look in the mirror for a long time.

My hair has grown out past my shoulders, a few strands still short around my chin from my impromptu haircut all those years ago. My eyes, still heavy from the weight of the war but lightening day by day. I look a lot like Beatrice. I also look a lot like Tris. I'm not too sure their any different but, to me at least, they should be categorized all on their own.

When I'm done looking at my reflection - an action that I still haven't grown in to - I shut the door over it, just out of comfort, and move about, dressing quickly. I spot the clothes Tobias wore to sleep tucked safely into a drawer, smelling of him in every way possible, the black sneakers he wears not by the door where he'd left them the night before.

I make quick work of breakfast - oatmeal - and clean what I can around the house. It's in moments like this where I feel like Abnegation. I can remember in vivid detail watching my mother do this on days when we didn't have to go to school, dusting the blinds and wiping down the table tops. She'd deny my help if I offered it. Caleb would never offer it, he would just do it. Maybe that was my mistake, something that made him more Abnegation than I.

I haven't seen my brother in quite some time. He's a teacher now, for the students that would be turning sixteen. The ones who, about five years ago, would be preparing to start their lives in their own Faction. They'd be preparing for the aptitude test, hoping they wouldn't have to leave their families. None of that was a worry anymore.

But my brother still works long hours. Long hours with little rewards but Caleb has never been one seeking rewards. He's always just been kind and honest and, before we even knew it, intelligent. The job works well for him and for Susan. It dawned on me just last week that they'd become a couple. I'm glad. I'd always seen it in the two.

The rustling of the knob breaks me from my thoughts and I stop cleaning, moving to peep through the window. Tobias, of course, struggling with the door handle. I almost laugh.

"Oh come on, Four, I know you can do better than that!" I call loud enough so he can hear me. I rarely use the nickname, just in passing. Sometimes when we're fighting but I try to avoid that. There's a soft smile that graces his face as he, finally, unjams the door and steps inside.

"We should have just gone with the fingerprint scanner," he says, moving to wrap an arm around me and bring me to him. I listen to the steady beat of his heart. I'll never get tried of hearing it, so calm, so quiet. Nothing like it was before. He's at peace now. More than I could have ever imagined.

"Where did you go?" I ask, pulling away. In his hand he holds a brown bag, ones from the Amity. He spills a surplus of food onto the wooden table we use for dining.

"I went to get some things from the Amity compound," he says. The Amity have stopped bringing the food in the gates now that cars are becoming more accessible to people other than the Erudite and we are no longer acknowledging factions. It's not fair they would have to continue to wait on the rest of us within the walls when we could very easily make the trip. "I looked for the bread you liked, with the grains, but it's not in season. Winters coming and things are getting pretty scarce in terms of freshness."

This only means for the next month, we'll be indulging ourselves in canned peas and the bread made of oil and grain. Growing up in Abnegation, that isn't too new for me. I could bare it for a short amount of time, no problem. So could Tobias. It's the others - the former Erudite's and Candor's and Dauntless - who will have trouble stomaching the bland food.

I remember so clearly my first days in Dauntless, during my initiation. The teasing that was never ending about not being able to stomach the salt and whatever else the Dauntless mixed together. Even Christina, who, in her defense, I did not know very, had even taken a part in it. It was only Will that had kept his comments to himself because he felt it too. I push thoughts of him away.

"Are you okay?" I hate the questions and Tobias knows it. When I don't answer, he goes about putting things away. How normal we've become, the two of us, in this relationship. "Their going to need me to go down and monitor the gate tonight," he tells me. "So I won't be back until you've slept."

"But you have to work the gates tomorrow," I point out. "Can't they find someone else to do it so you get, at least, one night's rest? They run you dry, I swear." I want to add that, if they really need someone, I would do it. He would never see to that. I am sure of it.

"I'm a leader, Tris. I don't just get days off." I roll my eyes, trying to hide the look of disappointment that crosses over my face from his prying eyes.

"I bet Peter gets an abundance of days off," I grit. The name makes anger rise in my chest. I try to surface it but the thought, the thought that a sadist is another leader in the justice department, makes me sick. How he and Tobias could ever be linked into the same category, I don't understand. But like he'd told me, it isn't my choice to make. It's no ones but the communities and, somehow, they see Peter as brave.

"He's working too, tonight, actually," Tobias tells me, opening a can of peas, not bothering to warm them. How he stomachs it, I don't know. I've learned to stop questioning the things he does. "If you want too, you're more than welcome to join us at the gate. I think that Christina is supposed to be there."

I hadn't seen Christina in two days, since we spent the night wandering the streets, looking for trouble that was obviously not there. It'd be nice to spend the night with her. And Tobias. Peter, not so much.

"Okay." I say. "It'll be awhile," I point out with a small smile. "What do you want to do?"

Tobias just smiles before setting his can of peas on the table. The rest is history.

...

The gate used to scare me. A symbol of the unknown that meant nothing but bad things. Outside those walls, I had everything to fear. Inside I was safe, safe from harm under the protection of my faction, my family. I had neither of those things now but the feeling never died.

Tobias stands to my right, his fingers intertwined with mine as we weave through the evening rush. Mostly Dauntless returning to their homes before curfew. Everyone else was smart enough to get a head start, draw their blinds and spend the evening time with their families before the warning bells rang. But the Dauntless never abide by anybody's rules but their own.

"All of these people and they could find no one other than you to watch the gate tonight." My complaining hadn't stopped since Tobias had told me about his nights duties hours ago. By the way his jaw clenches, I know he's getting tired of hearing the words. "I'm just saying."

"I know, Tris, but what am I supposed to do? Like I said, some things are out of my control and that just has to be that." He leaves very little room for argument and even though I don't want to admit it, I know he's right. His being called to duty only meant someone was sick or hurt or had other things to attend to. And Tobias was next in line. There are just some thing you can't refuse.

I'm happy he invited me to come along. I didn't like nights I had to spend alone. Christina lived with some Dauntless from our initiation class and, though she ranked pretty high up in the justice system, wasn't allowed out after curfew. Neither was Caleb or any of my other friends. And being alone was something new to me. I didn't enjoy it.

"If Peter says anything, you'll have to pardon me for throwing him from the tower," I say, climbing the latter, Tobias on my heels. I don't have to look down to know the face of concentration he wears. His fear of heights never went away. He's just better about it now. To distract him, I keep talking. "You'd be surprised by how little gratitude I have for the man even though he saved my life. I appreciate the gesture, really, but something about him still settles me wrong."

Peter had saved my life. Once, when I was in the headquarters for my 'execution'. He'd paralyzed my versus killing me, rushing both Tobias and I from the building. He'd saved me but my feeling of happiness was short lived the moment he'd opened his mouth. All we were was even - debts had been repaid. Other than that, we didn't speak about it.

"The kids an ass," Tobias says once we've finally reached the top. We pull ourselves to safety, the last ones to arrive as eyes shift our way. I take a moment to help Tobias, his hands shaking. I slip mine into his so no one else can see.

Christina greets me with open arms. The Candor were surprisingly open with affection. It took me some time to get used to it. I was still working on it amongst a great deal of other things. "Hey, Tris."

"Hey," I breath, pulling away to sink back into Tobias's side. But he's on duty so his affection is scarce. Instead, he begins working on the computer, typing furiously, codes I don't recognize, number I'd never be able to remember. He speaks into a walky takly.

"Didn't know you were bringing the Stiff," Peter mumbles. He's seated by the door, night vision goggles around his neck. He looks at me as he says the words, his lip jutting out between his teeth. He looks like a child. "Oh! Where are my manners? Hey, Stiff."

"Peter," I reply curtly, moving to take a seat next to Christina. She hands me a gun. One I will not need to use but will know how to if the time comes. The thing is cold and familiar in my grip. I wish it wasn't. I wish we could throw the devices into the river in the Dauntless headquarters, forget about them completely. They'd taken too much from me.

"I'd say it's time for another tattoo," Christina says, her hands gliding over the three birds on my collarbone. One for each member of my family. I note two of them mean nothing anymore. Not really. My second one stays hidden by the tank top I wear. "What do you think, Four?"

I flinch at the name. Regardless of how I'd changed my thinking of him, no one else could really follow suit. To them, he was still Four. Still the man at Dauntless who terrorized us in the early days. Ran us until we threw up and was handy with a knife and gun. But he was a saint in comparison to Eric, I've always assured him of that.

Tobias turns his head a fraction of an inch, a smile playing on his lips. He finally moves away from the computer. "I think that's a great idea, Christina." He smiles at me and my heart stops.

I shake my head. "I don't think so. I'm pretty content with my two."

"I think someone's just scared," Peter says from his spot. For a second, I'd forgotten he was there. I turn to him with ferocious eyes. He mocks me. "Tris, that look really doesn't suit you. Try again later." It's the first time he's used my name. Well second time. _Be brave, Tris. _

"I'll get one too," Christina says, breaking the silence. "I'm sure Cara would want one too. She's been talking about getting a new one." She pauses. "You know, for Will and all." There is no point in hiding the guilt that crosses my face. So I don't.

If only for a moment, Will would stop following me. His ghost more so than anything. I found recalling happy memories of him was something I couldn't do, not anymore. Every time the name came to mind, I saw the gun to his head, the way his body slumped, the color of his blood as it stained the cement. The sound of his voice has left me, his smell, the way his hair used to fall into his eyes. I don't remember a bit of it any longer. Nothing. Guilt. Nothing but guilt.

"I didn't mean to bring it up, Tris," Christina whispers. I still can't find it within myself to look at her. How is it that she is comforting me? I was the one who killed him. If she had killed Tobias, lord knows what I would have done to her. How she can look at me, talk to me, be friendly with me, I don't know. I wouldn't be mad at her if she couldn't.

I feel Tobias wrap his arms around me, pinning me to his body as he breathed in the smell of my hair. I relax a little. Years later and I've yet to heal. Not fully, at least. "I'll get one too," he whispers into my hair. I smile a little.

"Where would you put it?" I ask. "You've got no room from what I can remember."

"Maybe my face," he suggests. I shake my head. That reminded me too much of Eric. "Or my neck. Maybe my hands. Who knows. The possibilities are endless."

"I'll get one if you do," I say. Maybe I'd get another bird. Another bird for Tobias. He was my family now. One for Christina too. "Anything to report tonight?"

Tobias shakes his head at the same time Peter groans, obviously bored with all the inactivity. It'd been weeks since we'd seen anything worth worrying about. Even then, it'd been nothing but a shooting star our cameras caught. As boring as it may be for the people having to watch it, it was a good thing. It was a great thing.

"Amity is bringing in a new shipment of food later tonight, closer to one in the morning depending on when they can get the trucks packed," Tobias tells me. "But I don't think the hospital needs all that much now. Things are pretty quiet over there."

The hospital was something new in the society we'd created. Instead of having multiple doctors in each faction, there was one place everyone would turn to if they needed medical attention. It was a tall Erudite building that hadn't been destroyed during the war. Some days we had to guard it.

"What are the Amity going to do once it gets colder out? There will be no food to sell or plant or harvest," I ask Tobias.

"There are no more Amity, Tris," he reminds me, not looking to firm. Just a friendly reminder. Right. No factions. It'd been this way for awhile and, still, thinking of the world without them is something I can't do, not yet. It just seems strange. What if everything you had ever known just one day went away? "They'll work inside the walls. Contribute to society in other ways."

I don't know what other ways they could help. Work in the stores, maybe. I guess it wasn't my problem.

"Well since things are quiet around here, what do you say we go and have some fun?"

...

We aren't supposed to leave the towers. In fact, if we did that may be cause for punishment. Imprisonment maybe, loss of a job. They couldn't send us away, send us to factionless, not anymore. That was comforting at least.

"We're going to die," Peter says from behind me. I don't know how I'd convinced them all to come here. To climb the ferris wheel. Tobias took no convincing. Christina, not much. Peter had just gone along.

"We won't if you hold on," I say. I can feel his hands on the rungs below me. Even in the dead of the night, I can see his knuckles turning white. Maybe he has a fear of heights. I wouldn't know. We were never friends. We never spoke about it. "We're almost at the top."

"Almost at the top?" Christina screams. It's the first I'd heard from her whole journey. "Jesus Christ, Tris, maybe we could find something else to do. Something that doesn't have me fearing for my life."

"Would the two of you shut up," Tobias says for me. "I thought I would've taught you better than that." He tries to be ferocious like he was in Dauntless. Scare them into it the way he used too. But his own fear of heights takes some of the fire away.

"I've fought too hard to die for something stupid like falling off a damn ferris wheel in the middle of the night," Peter grunts, coming to a stop. I swing my legs in to one of the carts. I'm not too sure it's stable but it keeps me steady long enough. Peter follows me then the rest.

"Stop your complaining," I tell Peter. "You see, we're safe."

I look out over the city, the bright lights that shine over the landscape, farther than I can see. They illuminate what's on the other side of the wall, just a little. Just towards the end of the Amity compound, nothing else. Everything else is dark, just like my knowledge. A mystery I may never solve.

"What the hell were you doing up here anyway?" Christina asks, finally catching her breath. Her hands shake.

"Remember when we played capture the flag during initiation?" Peter and Christina nod. "We got the idea to come up here to look for the flag. That's how I found it so easily." I remember the night like it was yesterday. All those people on my team, dead. Well, most of them anyway.

"Seems like a lifetime ago, huh?" Christina says as if reading my mind. I nod my head because it did. It seemed like a million years ago the only worry I had was finding that stupid flag before getting shot by a paintball gun. A paintball gun, that was my biggest worry.

"I still can't believe I didn't come in first," Peter mumbles under his breath. "I should have been first."

And this is why I hate him. "Is that all you can think about? The fact that you didn't come in first? What does it matter now? You don't think about the fact that all of our friends are _dead_?"

"They weren't my friends," he deadpans, shrugging his shoulders. "That was your main downfall. You cared too much but what's new? Tris, the brave, selfless, smart, _Stiff_?" He says the words to be sarcastic, cruel and mean and not to compliment me so I ignore him. Instead, I grab ahold of Tobias's hand.

"You're an ass, Peter," Christina says. The second time tonight someone has said this must mean something. "Besides, having friends was important during initiation. I couldn't have done it without Tris, and Al, and... Will."

I nod my head. I add Tobias to my personal list. Al was a good friend before he tried to kill me. Patient, kind, loyal. It's too bad the training got into his head. It's too bad he had to feel the need to jump. And Will. Will, too. I would miss him more than anything for the rest of my life. No matter how short or long _that_ was.

"But what good is it now? Their all dead, right?" No one looks towards Peter. He's right. It may not be the same for Tobias. I don't know anyone from his class. Just Eric and I know that didn't end well.

"All we can do is try to move on." That may be the only smart thing he's ever said. Yes, we had to try and move on. That's all any of us were trying to do.

* * *

I just read finished reading the Divergent trilogy and I LOVED it! I thought the dynamics of it all were amazing so I wrote this, as anybody would. I hope you like it! Please leave a review. Let me know how it is.

Of course, I changed some aspects of the ending. It wasn't satisfying to me so I changed it accordingly. Call me selfish, sorry. I just can't have my Tris die. I need a happy ending!

Thanks again.

-B


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Tobias_

I leave Tris in bed, the covers pulled up to her chin, her eyes shut tightly as they strain against what little light is sinking in. A press a soft kiss to her cheek, hard enough to make her stir but not to wake her. I run hand over the blonde hair that lies across the pillow, relishing in her deep breaths for a moment before pulling myself away. It's not the easiest thing to do.

I pull on my jacket, ignoring the looks I get as I step out into the cold. It's much chillier than it was yesterday. It reminds me of my childhood days in Abnegation when it would snow. It was the days where I was allowed to be outside, away from school and away from my father, and spend the day surrounded by my friends, if that's even what I could call them.

I wonder if Tris had those days, playing with her brother and her mother, maybe her father if he wasn't too busy but Andrew Prior was always a busy man. She doesn't talk about her childhood much. Never has been one for it but neither have I. Perhaps it's too painful to think about.

Unlike her I have two parents. No siblings but two parents, alive and well but sick in the head. Maybe I wished they were dead. I tried to convince myself I wanted them dead. It would be easier, less complicated, not so time consuming. Maybe I could rid myself of the demons if they went away. Actually disappeared.

And speaking of parents, I go to see my mother. Evelyn. I didn't know what to make of her message to me, the one sent to my home - how she even knew where Tris and I lived, I didn't know. The work of one of her minions no doubt.

As a leader in the justice department, I can only assume whatever we'll be speaking about will have to do with the outside world and keeping it out. It was the only thing she spoke to anyone about.

When I arrive to her living quarters, ones not too different from the one I grew up in, there are guards by the door, guns in hand, mugs on their faces. I didn't know the men, had never seen them. They couldn't be court ordered. Just loyal servants doing their job in protecting their Ice Queen. I make no move to speak to them as I try to pass. A hand grabs me.

"Can I ask you what you're doing?" I seethe, grabbing ahold of the strong arm that grips me. The man - who is actually more of a boy - looks no older than twenty. Tris's age. Much too young to be a worry. His counterpart doesn't look any different. "I'm Tobias Eaton. I got a letter from Evelyn just yesterday she wanted to meet me."

"Do you have the letter with you?" One of them speaks. They look identical in their gear, bullet proof vests on as if they would really need them. Well, I wouldn't be too surprised. There were a handful of people other than me that wanted Evelyn dead. Their eyes drop to the gun on my hip. It contains no bullets but they don't know that. "We aren't allowed to let you in unless we're given specific-"

"I'm her son, dip shit. Go in there and ask her yourself and get your hands off of me!" He releases me without a moment to spare, nodding to his friend who disappears into the home. I hear soft whispers and rustling and my mother now stands in the doorway with a smile on her face, so unlike anything I'm used too. I hate her for it.

"Tobias, you came," she greets. For a moment, I think she considers hugging me. She weighs her options and retreats. "When I didn't hear back from you yesterday, I only assumed you wouldn't be able to make it. I would have left your name with Albert and Chip." I look to Albert and Chip who look terrified.

"I didn't know if I'd be coming either," I say. I'd left the meeting with my mother out when talking to Tris last night in bed. Not because I was lying, just because I wasn't sure I'd be coming. No need in worrying her with hypotheticals. "Decided a morning with you couldn't be too bad."

Evelyn smiles, not genuinely but enough to get under my skin. I don't let it. I follow her through the doorway without invitation. Albert and Chip scurry out of my way without a second thought. I chance a glance over my shoulder, swinging the door shut with one hand.

Once inside, my mother's house doesn't differ too much from my own. A couch, raggedy and old. Probably something from the factionless. A kitchen with only the essentials though she lacks the coffee machine I'd managed. Down the hallway, I can only assume that's where she keeps her bed, a bathroom with a tub much too big for just her. It's bleak and plain and so Abnegation it almost suffocates me. On her desk, I do see a photo. One of me as a child. I'm not sure where she got it or how. But I'm smiling. I don't do much of that anymore.

"Nice place," I grunt, crossing the room in three strides to stand across from her. My eyes flutter periodically, just for safety. Maybe coming here alone wasn't the best idea. I tighten my hold around my gun even though it won't be any use.

"Thank you, Tobias," she smiles. "Would you like some water or tea? Maybe some coffee. I'd heard you'd grown quite fond of the-"

"What do you want?" Evelyn blinks up at me as if I'd hit her. I wish I had but I pull away. The mother role she plays, it makes my skin crawl. Makes me want to jump thirty stories to my death. She wants to come in, act loving and kind and like she had anything to do with me, now that I've come so far. So far without her, without Marcus. "I'm only speaking to you out of necessity, Evelyn. Now what is it you want?"

I hear so much of my father in my voice but I ignore it. "Would you like to sit down? You're making me nervous standing."

I shake my head. "I'm fine here," I say. I wait for a moment before adding a quiet, "thank you."

"Well, I'm sure you're very busy so I'll cut to the chase." From under lap she pulls a file, one with pictures and reports and things not even available to me, one of the highest officers in the justice department. Before she even has a chance to introduce me to what she holds, I maneuver it from her grip.

It's what I expected. Pictures from the cameras around town, most from the Dauntless headquarters. Written reports about almost everybody in each sector of the town. Some about the prisoners who are being kept on war crimes. People's private lives, dug into and placed into my lap. How she'd gotten access to such, I don't know. The computers didn't hold the information she'd presented to me. "Where did you get this?"

"Where do you think?" She snaps, grabbing the manilla envelope from me. I struggle with her, only for a moment, not wanting to relinquish the documents. Not into her care. "Jeanine Matthews was a force to be reckoned with, huh? Knew everything about everyone." The name makes my blood boil. "Had a nice little section on you in here. Things about your initiation, about Marcus and I. Things I don't even think you knew about." She laughs as if anything she has to say is funny. As if the government prying into the private lives of citizens is funny.

Suddenly, I'm angry. "You didn't answer my question. Why do you have them? I assumed everything was destroyed after Jeanine's murder."

"Oh, Tobias. Did you really think that?" I frown. Of course not. Who could I have trusted to destroy it all? No one but myself - Tris, maybe - and I hadn't been the one to do it. I'd been too busy with Caleb, with mending my broken relationship, to worry about who was working with the files. No, I'd let them fall into the hands of someone equally as dangerous of Jeanine herself.

"What are you doing with those?" I ask. The closer I move, the farther she goes. Yet again, the folder disappears beneath her coat. "Have you been adding to them? Tell me you wouldn't be stupid enough to follow what-"

"You seem to forget where you got your smarts," Evelyn interrupts. "I haven't been adding to anything. Just simply observing those I feel need observing based on what I have. There's nothing wrong with that, Tobias. Quite frankly, I'm doing a better job than you and your friends in the justice department."

"You have no right to have those files," I snap. "Those are the private lives of people you are spying on. There is no reason their deepest fears and secrets and personal information needs to be within your reach. If you were a decent person you would relinquish-"

"I am doing no one any harm." She says the words like she's on trial, fighting for her life. She sounds like the inmates at the prison, begging for release when they believe they were just following orders. Like them, I don't believe her. "I simply wanted to show you these things. Tell you about some particular habits of those closest to you that I feel you might want to know."

"I don't want to know anything about the people closest to me," I say. "Whatever they haven't told me, their entitled to keep to themselves. People are allowed to keep secrets. No one is breaking the law there."

"But what if it's endangering our society? Then what, Tobias? Are you going to let it fall under the radar for the sake of keeping-"

"No one is of a bigger danger to this society than you are, Evelyn," I seethe. She recoils. "You are no better than Jeanine Matthews and her ideals about Divergent's being a threat to the system. We see how that worked out, especially for her. I'd hate to see you fall under the same pattern. It'd be a real shame, wouldn't it?"

The neutral look on her face is gone within the next moment, replaced with the same stone appearance I'd grown up with. I don't say anything else, neither does she. The words seem to resinate in the deepest part of her, maybe because she knows their true. "What did you really bring me here for?"

Evelyn chews on her bottom lip, tugging the skin over and over again until she draws blood. "I just want to make sure there are no plans to advance outward, not without my knowledge. As someone who has watched this place grow, I don't want to see it fall."

I hesitate a moment. She wasn't a leader, not really. An advisor but not a leader. She didn't need to know this information. There was nothing she could do with it. "There are no plans as of now. It's common knowledge to the public. You could've easily looked to any of the news stands."

She shakes her head. "Tobias, you and I both know that isn't the truth. I'm not asking to hurt you or anybody for that matter. I just want to know. Curiosity is a dangerous thing."

"That it is," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "Any information or plans that have been made are private. Leaders and officials only and you are neither."

"But I am your mother." She says the words so softly, so innocently, I almost miss them. "I'm your family."

The word brings me back to Tris. Her sleeping body draped in the covers where I'd left her this morning. No doubt she'd be awake, worried sick with my whereabouts though when I returned home, she'd say nothing. Tris who loved me with every being she had. Who nurtured me and cared for me and helped me more than I really needed. She is my family and I tell Evelyn so.

The name does something to Evelyn, in the way she sits and the authority she speaks with. I see her resolve crumbling before my very eyes, the muscles in her face contorting like putty beneath my fingers. She says nothing for a long time before releasing a deep breath, holding her head in her hands as she takes calming breaths. "I would've thought you'd have ridden yourself of that burden by now. Now that all is stable."

"Of what burden?" I demand, my vision going red.

"She doesn't need you anymore, Tobias," she says, her tone as if she's explaining the concept to a small child. "She doesn't need to be watched. She isn't the delicate little girl you think she is. She can do fine all by herself. You don't need to burden yourself with the baggage she carries. You have enough of your own."

"And you would know all about that, huh?" I don't bother defending Tris because she is more than capable of doing it herself. She is all the things my mother says but none of them are bad. She is strong, she doesn't need defending. She carries baggage but no more than I do. She makes me lighter. "You'd watch what you say about my girlfriend."

I turn to leave but she calls me back. "I'd have thought I'd raised you better. Raised you to make an honest women out of the women who sleeps in your bed." I turn my glare on her - one that used to have initiates falling in fear - but all she does is smile. "It must be your father's tendencies falling upon you."

She raises her hand to touch my cheek but I flinch away, almost out of habit and then out of hatred. Who is this women to ask me for things, claim to be my mother, but then rip at the darkest parts of me? The parts of me that even _I_ hate. She is just what Tris said and I wish I'd seen it sooner before she'd gotten a chance to tangle me in her even present web of lies.

I grab her wrist, firmly but not enough to hurt her as I stare down. I can tell in her eyes that she's scared. "Tris is my family now. I want you to stay away from her, I want you to stay away from me. Far, far away. You would be in your right mind to listen to my warning."

"What I wouldn't give to be young and in love again," she whispers. Her breath fans across my face, smelling of alcohol. My eyes shift to her cup, deep brown and sitting in the finest china I've ever seen. She's drunk. "She'll leave you soon enough, Tobias. You'll never be able to deliver, give her what she wants. A family, a home, love," she pauses for a moment before adding, "a child."

Her words affect me but I don't let myself waiver. I turn on my heel, shoving her body away from my own and striding out of the door. She doesn't call for me again.

It's only when I'm two miles away, closer to home than I am to where Evelyn resides, that I begin to let her words take effect on me. I have to be away from the factionless, from the Dauntless. I can't let them see me crumble.

I'd never thought before if Tris would want those things. I'd given her most of them. A home, love. The thought of marriage, truthfully, had never crossed my mind. The thought of her maybe wanting children of our own seemed unreal. The world we lived in was too much of everything bad for that. We would be taken away from each other, our child taken away from us, what we love burned to the ground before us.

As safe as I wanted to believe we were, I knew we weren't. How long could we stay, here, living in this box? I'd never looked at it that way before but that's what we were. Zoo animals caged in for showing. As far as I was concerned, I'd never get out. We would never get out. It wasn't safe. It wasn't worth the risk. Life here was better than a life of uncertainty, right?

I only struggle with the knob for a moment. In fact, I break it under the force of my grip. The shiny metal comes off in my hand, slack instead of firm. My already calloused hands breaking from the intrusion. I take a breath, slinging the thing far beyond my point of view. I wait to move until I hear it crash. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Tris stands at the door, the clothes she wore to bed still on her body, her hair matted as she stands against the doorway. She'd just gotten up, her morning off. She'd probably planned to spend it in bed with me but woke up to find me gone. "The door handle broke," I say, moving around her and stepping into the warm heat our home provides.

"Where have you been?" She bites. She sets aside a plate of breakfast, oatmeal and eggs. I'm not hungry and turn away. Defeated, she huffs. "I asked where you went."

"I heard you," I reply, the anger I feel towards my mother creeping into the way I speak to her. She blinks at me, surprised by my outburst but, then again, not at all surprised. After all, that's who I am. Four, the hot head. "I had some business I had to take care of, Tris. It was nothing."

"If it was nothing, why are you being so secretive?" I don't answer. There is nothing I need to hide from her. Just not things I'm ready to tell. I'm not ready to talk about my mother. I can't speak about her, not to Tris. Not now. Maybe later, once I've calmed. I don't trust myself not to do something out of the ordinary like burst into tears.

"I thought we weren't going to lie to one another," Tris whispers. She isn't stern. But she's not hurt. Just annoyed. I sigh. "If I'm going to wake up every morning alone, I might as well just go back to my own apartment."

It's an empty threat, I know it. She doesn't have another apartment unless she plans on going back to the Dauntless headquarters, living in the room she stayed in as an initiate. Factionless live there now. But still. The thought of also waking up in any empty bed scares me. "You don't mean that, Tris."

Tris shrugs. "Did you go to see your mother?" I don't say anything. Simply nod my head. "Why did you think you needed to hide that from me?"

"Because I don't feel like talking about it," I say. "Or her. I was just hoping to come home, get some rest before I have to go to work." Tris's eyes meet mine, soft but firm. Like a moth to a flame, I can't help but be drawn to them. The first thing I'd noticed about her. Beautiful. I can't be mad any longer.

I move slowly to her, giving her the amount of time needed to decide this wasn't what she wanted to do. I gave her time to decide to turn away, run, hide, whatever it is Tris does when she gets angry. But she stays, not welcoming but waiting. I pull her into my arms, a firm hand on her back, the other moving to lace my fingers through her own. After a moment, she follows suit, sighing deeply.

"I don't like having to be mad at you," she says. "But sometimes you don't give me much of a choice, you know. I just wish you'd talk to me more, be open."

I wished that too but my life had taught me not to be. I couldn't be open, not with anyone. And it all went back to my mother who abandoned me, my father who hit me. A never ending cycle. But I didn't want that with Tris. "I'm sorry," I apologize. It's the best I can do. I can't promise anything. "I love you."

That seems to be enough for her. Her fingers grab my chin, pulling me down to her, kissing my softly before releasing me. All the anger in her features is gone in the next moment. In fact, she's smiling. "You're a real sap, Four," she jokes. It's my turn to smile. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but will you give me a hint as to what was said?"

I clench my jaw. "My mother being my mother," I mumble. It should be enough. "A lot of nonsense for the most part. Nothing of importance. Digging her nose where it doesn't belong, whats else?"

"Where is your mother? What is she doing?" I don't know where the curiosity comes from. Must be the Erudite in her. "I don't mean to push it."

"I'm not too sure what she's doing," I say honestly. "I don't ask about her much. I know she's okay, that she has a home, a job somewhere. Something involving helping the factionless get on their feet. Their having a hard time getting back in to society. Believe it or not, they trust her."

"They have reason too," Tris says. "No matter what wrongs she's done to us, it would be wrong to deny that she did bad to them. She helped them when no one else did. They trust her as they should."

As much as I want to deny her words, I know there true. She helped those people, transformed them into people who believed they could do something. It's a shame Evelyn got too far into their head, made them believe things that weren't for the benefits of others.

I look at her then. "Would you ever run away with me?"

"Run away where?" She inquires. Her voice lacks any real emotion. It's like she believes I'm speaking nonsense. When I stay silent, she finally looks up through her eyelashes. "Run away where, Tobias?"

"Outside the walls," I answer.

"To the Amity farms?"

I shake my head. "Past them. Past the surveillance cameras and gates and security. Just go." I know how ridiculous I sound. By the way her eyes widen, it wasn't what she was expecting. In all the meetings with the justice program, I was very well against the idea of sending people out to see what was out there. To me, it felt like just another one of Jeanine's experiments. "Me and you."

Tris chews on her bottom lip. "It seems risky. I don't think we'd make it too far, just me and you." I think we'd make it just fine and I tell her so. She shakes her head. "There's no where to run to."

"You'd feel like running? From me?" It was no secret that our relationship lacks common compassion, normalcy that most do. We'd come together in time of war and sometimes it's hard to see that we are no longer there. There was a time and a place in the beginning of our relationship when running from one another was something that could be done with little consequence. It was no longer the time nor the place.

"I just mean that two people going somewhere unknown is not smart or safe. We could get killed. One of us could get killed and what would happen to the other?" Though it was a hypothetical, it wasn't really. We'd been faced with the scenario too many times.

"You know I would never let anything happen to you," I say once I've cleared my head. I clench my jaw. "I'd defend you with my life, Tris."

Her hand wraps itself steadily around my jaw, pulling me towards her until our foreheads rest against one another. She lets out a slow breath, smelling of mint. "Likewise." She presses her lips softly to mine before pulling away. "But no. I won't run away with you. And I'd appreciate if you didn't leave without me."

The thought would have never crossed my mind. I'd never feared anything more than losing her.

Maybe they would have to start calling me Five.

* * *

Hope this chapter was enjoyable! Review and tell me what you think. I love any type of review (even the mean ones).

Thank you!

-B


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Tris_

There's little to do tonight.

It seems everyone has, for once, abided by the laws set in place and secured their houses by the time ten rolls around and the clock in the middle of the city starts to ring. There is no factionless to escort, no rebellious children to wrangle in. Just Christina and I, alone, walking the streets as we find a way to occupy our time before we can head home.

I first found this job very hard. Being an officer was different than being a solider. Both easier in some ways, harder in others. I'd found I had more experience with killing and threatening than I did with warnings. I let Christina handle most things. She was bigger than I am, not as strong mentally, but her physical appearance gave her an upper hand in most instances. Despite being who I am, I was still small, unrecognizable, not a threat to anyone who saw me on the street.

I ignored the insecure part of me that nags me late at night. The one that tells me I don't belong where I am, sleeping next to who I am, being apart of something so big when I am so small. When I'm alone at night, I'm still Beatrice Prior. I still am all too familiar with her and I want so badly to rid myself of everything she is.

But then again I don't because my parents knew Beatrice Prior. They knew her well. Maybe better than I did. She is the only connection I have left with them. The final gateway. Who she was - who _I_ was - before she cut her hair, and changed her name, and got a tattoo; that's who they knew.

Would they be proud of me if they were still here? Would I have lived up to what they believed, what they worked for? My mother, my mother who did not come back for me but for the Edith Prior video; was losing her life in order to protect me worth it in the end? The whole city is in shambles, slowly rebuilding itself but nevertheless, broken.

"You're being a really big drag tonight, you know that," Christina mumbles from beside me, holding her gun in one hand, an apple in the other. Her short black hair just keeps getting shorter, her clothes tighter, the piercing on her left eyebrow catching the light from the street lamp ever too often. She's unrecognizable from the Candor girl I meant in Dauntless so many moons ago. I don't like her any more or any less than I did then.

"Sorry. Boring night," I say, shoving my hands in to my pockets, suddenly very aware of the chill of the night. Tobias had told me to bring a jacket. I was insistent it would only weigh me down. "Nights like this make me think. About everything."

"This night makes me think of capture the flag, remember?" She laughs. If I turn my head enough to the right I can make out the ferris wheel. It makes my stomach turn, my cheeks blaze. The girly side of me seeps to the surface. I can't contain my smile. "That was a good night." I nod my head in agreement.

"Where do you think we would've fallen?" I ask her. "If everything had stayed the same. If the whole war, everything with Erudite, had not happened?" She's silent for a long time and I wonder if I've overstepped some invisible line we'd drawn. We rarely talk about initiation. About Eric, and the chasm, and the rankings, and our friends. Just because all those things are either gone or irrelevant now. They are no use to us. Just bad memories.

"You with Four," Christina says after awhile. "You'd be working in the control room with him. Maybe guarding the gate like we are now but I don't see you doing any of the dirty work." She pauses. "Me with Will, training the initiates, working in the tattoo shop at night with Tori."

I nod my head, not knowing anything better to say. Just to agree. Truthfully, I'd never thought about it. Not even during initiation. I had much more to worry about; being Divergent, Four, becoming factionless, Jeanine Matthews. I had a long list of worries that excluded a job in Dauntless. But ending up in a control room with Tobias didn't seem like too bad of a life. I'd welcome it opposed to this.

"Do you love Four?" She asks. She's asked the question many times before, mostly joking, but this time her eyes are different. This time she's serious, lacking all judgement in her features. I nod my head slowly like I do every time because, for some reason, saying the words aloud to anyone other than him is something I cannot do. Maybe it's exposing my own weakness. Once again, I'm making sure the people I love are kept hidden for the sake of keeping them safe. "Do you think I loved Will?"

We've stopped walking, settling our things down on what used to be a Factionless compound. In the dead of the night, I can imagine the raging fire, the clink of the cans, the sounds of laughter. "I think you did."

My heart pulls as I say the words, my hands clam. I think Christina had loved Will. I think that I had taken that away from her. The gift of knowing she loved him. I'd stripped her of the beauty, left her with heartbreak that I could not control. Five years later and thoughts of him made me want to claw my eyes, kick and scream and cry until I was content. I'm not sure I would ever be.

"I think I did too," she says thoughtfully. When I finally pluck up the courage to look her way, she's staring out into open space. "And I think he loved me too but I don't know. How do you know Four loves you?"

Her voice is so small, I know I can't deny her the explanation she asks for. "The way he looks at me," I whisper, a blush growing on my cheeks. "There are times when we both look up and our eyes meet, like we're in sync. And I can see it all there. A look only I get." A look only I will _ever _get.

"You two are really lucky," Christina says. She's bitter but it's understandable. I don't blame her for it. The kind of person I would be without Tobias scares me. I don't want to imagine the kind of anger I would hold. "I almost just wish I'd gotten one second, one more moment, with him. I don't know what I would've done with it. It's just a wish."

I can understand that because, with my parents being gone, far away, there are many days when I want just that. Most of the time, when I've woken up from dreams of them, I wish they were here with me in reality, just for second. I don't know what I'd say to them, what I'd do. But it'd be nice.

"The scariest part is that I'm forgetting it all," she whispers after awhile. Her eyes are sad. "I can't remember much about him anymore and it's scary. A new fear of mine. If I went back in my landscape, I'm sure it would be a new one."

I can only imagine how my fear landscape much have changed by now. Back then, watching my parents die was only a fear. But I'd lived through it, it was a reality. Who would take their place in the landscape? Or would it even be that? Maybe the tally of those I'd killed - the people behind the cold barrel of the gun - would only grow. Uriah, Tori, Edward, Will, Al, Lauren, Lynn, Marlene, all standing beside them, awaiting their end. I don't want to think about it anymore.

"We have to go," I tell her. It's getting cold and I'm sure the end of our shift is coming near. We could head home by the time we make it back to headquarters. The sooner I go home, the sooner I'll be next to Tobias.

Christina looks hesitant, far away and distant as I mention home. I realize then she doesn't really have a home. No one to go home to. A place without love. "You can come home with me at the end of our shift if you want. We can sit on the couch, drink until we pass out."

She smiles, shoving me softly to the side. I stumble slightly over a piece of inclined sidewalk. "I'm sure Four would hate me for that one," she says. "I know how he likes his space."

"He won't be too mad," I tell her. "He loves you! He would be happy to have you. Besides, he always complains about my kicking during the night. I'm sure he wouldn't mind a quiet night on the couch."

We walk in silence, the only sound heard from miles away being our feet as they slosh against the ground and the buzzing from the lights. I look up, the lightbulbs blinking, almost leaving us in complete darkness. They'll need to changed soon.

"Do you want to know what he asked me last night?"

Christina laughs. "I don't want to know about your sex life, Tris. Whatever it is you two do in bed is completely, one hundred precent your own business. But if-"

"Oh my goodness, Chris," I sigh, rubbing my temples with the pads of my fingers. There were times when she was able to hide the Candor in her, shove all the thoughts running through her mind deep down within her, and I'd forget she could ever be so crude. But then there were moments like this one when her upbringing crept back into her. But that could be said about all of us.

"I'm joking, Tris," Christina laughs, her soft eyes crinkling. "What did he say?"

I look over my shoulder. There weren't that many cameras left in the city. But there were some. My eyes run over every surface I can think they'd be. Not that what Tobias said is illegal, by any means, just unheard of. "He asked if I would ever run away with him. Outside the walls, like past the city walls."

Christina blinks, giving thought to what I said, what it means, what he is suggesting. He wouldn't be the first person to say it but maybe the first person to consider it. We had everything we needed here. Now that our city was at peace, leaving was just... stupid.

"Do you think he meant it?" She asks after awhile. "Would he actually go?" I shrug my shoulders. I'd given it plenty of thought myself but couldn't come up with a clear conclusion. Tobias was more dedicated to rebuilding society than most. I don't see him being able to abandon it. "Are things bad again? Like... Jeanine Matthews bad?"

Again, a question I don't know the answer too. I'm sure Christina and I would've heard about it if that was the case. We were officers. A leader was my boyfriend. One way or another, word would have fallen back to us. "I don't think so," I say. "I don't know why he'd suggest it. He went to see Evelyn, wherever she is, and I'm wandering if she got in his head. She has a habit of doing that."

Christina shakes her head. "If anybody is against going outside of the walls, it's that lady. You saw what happened after she aired the Edith Prior video." I do. I watched as she went into ballistics. Shot traitor Dauntless and Erudite on spot. Had the factionless arrest anyone who seemed to consider the message, think about what it's saying, on spot. I was one of those people.

"Maybe she's changed her mind," I suggest. It's the only theory I can come up with. But it's a long shot. No matter how things have changed between Tobias and his mother, trusting her was still something he couldn't do.

"Maybe-" But before Christina can put her theory out into the open, rustling from behind us breaks us from our thoughts and puts us back to attention. My Dauntless training takes over and without a thought, I recoil my gun, releasing the safety. Christina does the same. Tobias had taught us well.

Christina points her gun first, squinting one eye to get a clear view. "Who's there?" She shouts, loud enough to be alarming but not enough to draw any attention. The rustling is there again, louder than before and without another thought, we proceed forward. Despite the creeping fear coming up through my chest, I fight it down. _Be brave, Tris. _

From behind a pole, no more than fifty feet in front of us, a factionless man, two of them, saunter out, not looking alarmed, just amused. I can smell the alcohol on them as they move in sync, almost like they were under stimulation, towards us. Their eyes are glossy, their hair shaggy. They are no older than Christina and I but they are bigger. Bigger and stronger and men.

"It's past curfew," I say once I've found my voice. The men look to me, closer now. Their eyes are dark, like Marcus's. "You should be in the living quarters you were assigned."

"I recognize you," the man with darker skin says, pointing his long, dirty fingernail in my direction. I jerk away from his touch. "You're Tobias's lap dog, no? His girlfriend or just his play thing?" My cheeks burn under his gaze, his hand coming to reach me once more. Christina grabs it before he has a chance.

"Get the hell away from her," she hisses, placing his hand back at his side, pointing her gun in his direction. He looks unfazed but holds his hands in the air anyway, almost mocking as he retreats backwards to stand next to his friend. He looks calmer, more aware but nevertheless, drunk.

"What are your names?" I ask, following Christina's lead and pointing my gun. Not at anything vital. When they don't answer, I press. "What are your names? If you don't tell us well be inclined to take you to the station to put you under the influence of-"

"Tom," the man with the dark skin answers. He looks to his friend who remains silent. Just staring. "This is Adam." Adam grunts in response.

"You two are not in your right mind. I'm going to remind you that if you want to drink, we hope you are of age and-"

"We know the rules," Tom interrupts. "Now, why don't we put the guns down, girls? No one wants to get hurt here."

I frown. "No one will get hurt if you two just listen to what we're saying. First time offense for being out past curfew is nothing more than a fine I'm sure the two of you can manage together. Now please-"

"So are you Tobias's girl or not?" Adam says, speaking for the first time. He moves in front of Tom, putting his hand over the barrel of Christina's gun as he passes her. She shoots me a worried glance but turns her attention. I can handle myself. I'm more than capable of defending myself, I've done it before. I've done much worse things before. "Why don't you put the gun down? Come have a drink with the-"

"I don't know you," I say suddenly. "I'm going to need you to back up, _sir_. I don't want to have to do anything rash."

Adam cocks an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. He's arrogant, cocky, reminding me too much of Peter and I want to be rid of him. I want to send him on his way, give him his warning, and be done with it. I want to run home to my boyfriend. "But I know all about you, Tris. Everyone knows about you. The strongest Divergent. Not even Erudite could crack you. What I wouldn't give to-"

"Back up," I seethe, pressing my gun into the hollow of his stomach. Tobias would be so much better at this than me. Better at intimidation. He could scare people with his being. I have to scare people with nothing but actions. When he makes no move, I say it again. "I said to back up, sir." And I thought he would be the calm one.

"Adam, let's just go," Tom says, trying to move around Christina but she doesn't break. She follows him, first with her eyes then with her gun. We lock eyes, a silent plan that may not made to be put into effect. Something we learned in initiation. "We're leaving, we're leaving." He puts his hands up again.

"No, I'm not," Adam laughs, grabbing ahold of my arm. Without a second thought, I slam the gun down into wrist, satisfied with the snap I hear then with the grunt of pain. As he loosens his grip, I manage to sink the butt of the gun into his jaw. He topples to the ground within the next moment,

Christina is saying something but I can't hear her words. I can't hear anything but the beat of my heart, the pounding of my blood as it runs through my veins. Adam struggles to regain his composure, struggling to stand on his feet. "It's obvious you've made a very big mistake," he says, blood trickling from his mouth.

"Don't come any closer," I threaten. My eyes find Christina, hands on Tom's wrist, holding him still as he fights against her. "Christina, are you good?" I yell. She nods her head, not bothering to respond as she repeatedly punches Tom.

But it only takes that long. Two seconds with my eyes off Adam, thinking he was still on the ground, struggling to his feet. When I turn to deal with him, handcuff him, take him back to headquarters for being uncooperative, I'm met with his fist instead.

I stumble, only for a moment. The pain in my jaw is subtle but his actions catch me off guard and I stumble, falling soundly on my knees. My gun is still in my hand, swung around me, secure. For a moment, I think about firing it. Scaring them. But that's against the rules. At least I think it is. "You messed up," I whisper, mostly to myself.

When I'm back on my feet, I take a swing at Adam whose gotten his footing back for the most part. He dodges it easily. I wonder then if he was Dauntless-born. It wouldn't surprise me too much. Someone who didn't survive initiation. His fighting tactics, the way he moves, it's too good to be natural. He was taught this and by who, I didn't know.

I remember what Tobias told me just before fighting Peter. I aim for the throat. It works, but only for a minute. Just like Peter. He staggers for a few seconds, long enough for me to kick his stomach, jam my fist into his nose, but not long enough. He flips me a second later onto my back. _Just like Peter_.

I realize then I need help. And I wasn't too stubborn to ask for it. Not now. Not with a drunk, factionless man, standing above me, staring down at me like I was prey. No. I needed help. I needed Tobias to come to my rescue, save me like he always did. "Christina!" I call out loudly. Adam struggles to close his hands around my neck, choking me before I can say anything else.

It's only then I realize Christina is nowhere around. Neither is Tom. Is that what she was telling me? Had he run and she'd had no choice but to travel after him? I was alone. I was utterly alone, a man on top of me, my gun pinned to my back. I was scared. For the first time since being on the force, I was scared. I understood why Tobias was weary about letting me do these things. No matter what I wanted to believe, I was too small, too inexperienced, too little of everything.

"Christina!" I scream again, louder this time. I hear a response, not a clear one but something that could not have come from anyone but her. "Christ-" But before I can get the words out his hands are around my throat.

I choke, fighting him off with what little power I have but it's no use. "You know, Four was the one who pushed me out of the ranks," he says. He gives a humorless laugh. "I was a Dauntless-born and a Stiff came and took my spot. Shook me of out of my ranks, made me factionless. Left me to the dogs."

I punch him once. It doesn't phase him. I don't know what, but hearing Tobias's nickname does something to me. Reminds me of who I was when I was Dauntless. When I was the Stiff pushing the Dauntless-born out of their ranks. "He taught you something, apparently," he seethes, kicking my side. "But you're still so small, so fragile. I don't know how you managed to get here. Once again, Four doing nothing but-"

"Shut up," I snap. Adam grabs ahold of the jacket I wear, ripping it, almost in half. The cold air slaps me hard. "I can defend myself all on my own."

And maybe it was my own insecurities making me say these things to him. After all, it wasn't like he really cared. He was talking, taking his aggression and anger out on me because of Four. Because of who I was associated with. But nevertheless, he saw me as weak and that was something I knew I was not. I drive my knee up into his rib cage. He doubles over in pain and I take the opportunity to run.

I realize know I'm on the same street, the one I ran on as a child, mindlessly chasing the Dauntless, never knowing one day where I would end up. Never imagining I would end with them. I feel like that know. Like the little Abnegation girl just trying to keep up.

I don't get too far. Adam has his hands wrapped around my waist a moment later. I tumble to the ground.

"Night, Stiff." He turns me on my back and that's the last thing I see before the world around me goes dark.

* * *

I went to see the movie again this weekend with some friends. Thought it was nice, the story a little left out, the acting good. I cannot get over Theo Hames as hard as I try. I'm so distracted throughout the whole movie simply by how handsome he is. I know I'm not the only one either ;)

Anyway, please leave a review. Thanks!

-B


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Tobias_

I'm sitting in the Control Room late at night, monitoring the security systems with Peter when I hear commotion from the other side of the wall. Commotion that has me reaching for my gun, the one I keep below my desk. Without a second thought, Peter does the same, discarding the book he held on his lap, kicking the door open.

I'm expecting an invasion. Factionless, armed and ready and dangerous and prepared to kill anyone who comes in their way. Suddenly, I'm ready for that too. I take the safety off of my gun, run out before Peter has a moment to think about it, holding my gun out in front of me. But there are no factionless there. Just Christina and a few workers who man the front. No one looks alarmed, at least not for their own safety. I lower my gun to my hip.

Christina is screaming, loudly, trying to make sense of something but no one is able to understand her. For a moment, I worry she's hurt but there are no outright signs of damage. At least not physically. Mellie, a women who works the front desk, has a comforting hand on her shoulder, asking her to calm down then asking her for details. None of it works and she looks crazed in a way I have never seen her before. Not as her instructor, not as her friend.

And then it clicks within me. She was on patrol with Tris tonight. They were guarding the factionless sector after curfew, make sure no one was out late at night. But Christina is here and no Tris. So where is she? Her clothes were torn, one eye bloody, knuckles broken and bleeding like she'd been working on the floor of Dauntless all afternoon. "Where's Tris?" I say without pause, pushing past all those around me, grabbing ahold of the tops of her shoulders. "Where's Tris?"

"Some factionless were out past curfew," she explains, her eyes glossy. "We didn't see them at first but they were following behind us and one of them grabbed Tris and she fought him off for awhile but he got the upper hand. He was a lot bigger than she was and-"

"_You left here there?_" I practically scream, letting go of her shoulders and moving past the crowds of people that have gathered to hear the story. "Peter, come with me! Someone call the hospital and tell them-"

"I already did, Four," Christina yells, falling into step with me. "No one was answering the radio calls. Some people heard the commotion, came out to help her but by the time that happened, she was passed out. Adam had run off by then. Took her gun but left her. I got there as soon as I could. His friend, the one I was dealing with, ran off too. I don't know where they went. That's why I wasn't with her when-"

"Adam?" The name sounds familiar. Too familiar. Christina nods. I remember Adam clearly. A boy in my class. A Dauntless-born who didn't act like it. He was skinny, awkward but strong, couldn't shoot a gun to save his life but could fight, sometimes better than me. He only dropped out after the second phase. He wasn't made for Dauntless no matter where he was born and everyone knew it. A hot head, sadistic, uncaring, selfish. Every bad aspect you could think of rolled in to one. I hadn't known he even still resided in the city. In fact, I'd forgotten all about him until this moment. "Who did you leave her with?"

"A Candor women, Fran," Christina answers. I begin to run out of desperation even though I don't know where she's going. The only thing I'm sure of is my need to get out of this building, get closer to Tris, find her in the midst of it all. I want to be there for her. I want to hold her, kiss her, make sure she's alright. I want to protect her. "She was my neighbor back when I lived with my mother and sister. She's a good women. She told me she would watch over her while I came to get help and I knew she wouldn't-"

"Lie, yeah," I interrupt. The cold air does little to lower the anger within me. "Where are we going exactly, Christina?" She takes the lead, stepping ahead of me. She's a fast runner and I'm thankful for it. Peter is fast on my heels, a few more officers I hadn't asked to come falling a few steps behind him. I'm not surprised with the outpour to help. Anyone would drop anything for Tris. A lot of people loved her. It was hard not to.

"I need half of you to check all the factionless buildings," I yell behind me as we start to slow. I still don't see Tris but I see a crowd forming. I push through. "I need you to look for anyone who may know Adam!" A part of me doesn't want him to be found, not now. I want to do it myself.

But now isn't about Adam. It's about Tris. I don't bother asking nicely for people to move. I find I don't have to, they do it for me. They must see it in my eyes. In my blank stare, clammy hands, twitching eyes. They see Four, not Tobias. They see someone to be feared. But they part for me until I can see what their looking at.

Tris, bloodied and beaten, lying on the concrete, a women nursing her head and her wounds while a man stands above her, anxiously trying to call her to attention. I was moving slowly but upon sight of her I move quicker, not wasting a moment before sinking to my knees beside her, hauling her up into the safety of my arms. She hangs limp there. No on tries to stop me as I make a move toward the hospital. It isn't far. Less than a mile away. It shouldn't be a problem.

I hear Christina on my heels, telling me something about transportation but I don't care. I look down at Tris, her head hanging over my arms, her mouth parted. But I can feel her heart beat, slow and steady, as I hold her. The soft breaths she's releasing soothing me like a child. Her arms are bruised, her jacket ripped, her hair tangled. I can only imagine what he'd done to her. How he'd hurt her..

"I can't believe you left her," I call out to Christina then. The hospital is within my view. I can already see nurses and doctors are there to meet me, stretcher in hand. Someone must have called ahead of time. "You shouldn't have left her."

"She told me she was okay," she replies. I say nothing more.

The doctors take Tris from me without a word, handing her from person to person until they've strapped her onto a stretcher, mask over her nose and mouth helping her to breathe. Their all talking around me but I don't understand a thing they say. Erudite talk. When I try to follow her through a separate pair of sliding doors, a blonde nurse stops me, putting a cautious hand on my chest. "Only family allowed beyond this point, sir," she tells me.

I open my mouth, my eyes shifting from Tris's disappearing form to the women in front of me. "Her family's dead," I say. It isn't the complete truth but Caleb might as well be. "I'm her family. Please. I need to back there for her when she wakes up."

The nurse considers my words, but only for a second. She looks over her shoulder to check if anyone is watching then slowly shakes her head from side to side, unable to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry to hear that, sir, but it's policy. After she's given a room and deemed fit to see guests, well find you. You can wait here if you'd like."

She leaves me alone then, not offering me a moment to argue, and I sink into a chair next to Christina who looks shaken. Her dark eyes stare off in front of her, a hand shaking as she grabs the railing of the chair. Her dog tag jingles with every movement. "Stay still."

"You know, you're not my instructor anymore," she bites. "I don't have to listen to what you say." But she stops moving, puts a finger in her mouth and begins to chew the finger nail.

We're silent for a long time, no sounds but the clock on the wall chiming with each passing moment. It was close to one in the morning. A time when both Tris and I would be returning home from our jobs. She'd tell me about her day, I'd tell her about mine. We'd lie in bed together until we fell asleep to the sound of each other's hearts. It was like clock work. But not tonight.

"I thought she had it under control," Christina says after awhile. It's the guilt talking. She doesn't look at me as she speaks. "She told me she had it under control and I didn't think the guy would hurt her this badly." I say nothing. It isn't fair to blame her. But I need someone to blame, at least for right now. "I thought I was coming right back. I came right back but-"

"I don't need to hear about it," I snap. I was enjoying the silence. I could think of happy things involving Tris. "Isn't that the first thing we taught you in Dauntless? To never leave someone behind?"

"I didn't leave her behind!" She cries. I notice then she's crying. Alligator tears rolling down her cheeks as she struggle to regain her composure. We aren't the only ones here. "I was doing my job."

And so was Tris. Doing her job had put her here, in the hospital, a broken face and body. I didn't know how bad things were, really. I just knew what was obvious to my eye. It could be worse. Or it could be better. I didn't know what to think. I sigh.

"Who were the guys?" I ask then. The only thing that can get me through the panic right now seems to be the hope that whoever did this wasn't going to live to see another day. "Adam and who else?"

"Some guy named Tom," Christina says. "Not all that good of a fighter. Took me a second to restrain him but he's fast and disappeared so I followed him on foot." She pauses. "They knew you. At least, they knew Tris knew you."

I nod. I remember Tom now too. Dauntless-born. They'd both seemed like good guys throughout initiation. Nice and welcoming to the Stiff who was first in the ranks. But then they became factionless and I can only assume their opinions of me were tainted from that point on. "She wouldn't answer any questions about you. Then that Adam guy got a little too close and Tris snapped his wrist."

The simple fact brings a smile to my face that I can't contain. Tris. My little fighter. Even when she shouldn't be. "A factionless with a bruised face and broken wrist shouldn't be that hard to find," I mumble because I don't know what else to say. Without thinking, I pull my radio from my pocket, signaling. "You find them, you bring them to me." I sit back.

It can't be more than an hour later when the same nurse I'd spoken with earlier comes running through the doors, her pink scrubs stained with blood, her hair roused as she shuffles through the computer on the front desk. Both Christina and I stand, moving quickly to her. "Where is she?"

The nurse looks up, looking frantic and alarmed. "She's fine, she's fine," she says hurriedly. "She woke up a few minutes ago, pretty disoriented. The doctor is putting her on sedatives now to ease the pain. You're more than welcome to head on back if you'd like."

I silently thank her before moving through the doors she'd just emerged from, my eyes searching for the bed Tris is in in each of the rooms in the hospital. I find her, room 118, lying silently in the bed, the pink blanket pulled up to her chin as an aging man fiddles with her IV. "Tris," I call as soon as I see her out of desperation. I hadn't let myself admit it until this moment but I was scared.

The doctor turns to me, putting one finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet. It's then I notice she's asleep. Her eyes shut and fluttering. The doctors have put her under already to ease her pain. I move slowly to sit beside her bed. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She'll be fine," he says, fingers tapping on a screen. "A few bruised ribs, minor concussion, and we had to give her about seven stitches above her eyebrow. It'll leave a scar but I promise it won't be too bad." I notice then the black stitching on her face, the bandages that wrap across her body. She looks so little, so broken, it breaks my heart. "She won't be able to work for the time being. She needs to be on bed rest for awhile."

"She won't be going anywhere," both Christina and I say at the same time. I look to her. No matter, we have the same common goal. Tris is one of the last people we have here that's important to us. We just want to keep her safe.

"We'll I am glad to hear that," he says. "I'll leave you alone now but I must warn you, she'll be waking within the next twenty minutes to an hour. She'll be confused, disoriented, maybe not acting like herself. We ask you just consider her current state." I nod. "If she wakes up in pain, please call a nurse and we'll administer more pain medication if needed."

"Thank you," Christina says, sitting opposite me on the other side of Tris, holding a hand in hers. I don't know why but someone else being able to touch her, even if it has no meaning to the way I do it, bothers me. Something about my expression must tell her this because she warily moves away. "She'll wake up any minute."

As if she's physic, Tris's eyelashes begin to flutter, softly like they do before she wakes up. Next the corners of her eyes crinkle as she squints against the light for a possibly a few more minutes of rest. Maybe in this instance, because of pain. Then her eyes. Wide and open and green. The happiest sight.

Christina and I both move too quickly, causing Tris to jump as we come into her view. A frown forms on her face as she looks between us then to her hands and finally to the sky as if begging a silent question. She pulls at the IV's on her hands in panic. I stop her calmly. "You don't want to do that, Tris. You'll be in pain."

She looks at me - really looks at me - for the first time. "What happened to me?" She asks, her voice full of tears. It's so unlike her but the doctor had warned us she wouldn't be herself. Maybe falling away from who she was was being weak. "Oh god."

"That asshole beat the shit out of you," Christina says for me. As I search for a way to sugar coat the experience, she has no problem being upfront. "By the time I got there, he'd ran off with your gun and left you in the middle of the street. You were unconscience for awhile."

Tris closes her eyes, running a hand over her face as she lets the tears fall. The movement must hurt her because her body begins to contort and she has to fall against the pillow for support. "Did you get him? Did you find him? Where could he have gone with my gun?"

But even disoriented and under the influence of medicine, she was Tris. Only concerned about others and not the fact she was lying practically lifeless in a hospital bed. It infuriated me and comforted me in the strangest ways. I look to Christina. "Maybe you can call in to the station. See if there's anything new."

I say it so she has no room for argument. She eyes me, only for a moment, and then leaves, giving Tris a quick hug. I wait until she disappears behind the curtains to retake my seat beside Tris, hand in hand, my lips covering hers for just a second. "You really scared me out there today."

"Sorry," she apologizes but I can tell she doesn't really mean it. "I feel like shit." I smile a little, moving to call the doctor but she stops me, shaking her head. "No more medicines. I'd like to be able to hear myself think if that's alright."

I understand what she means. After all we've been through, an injection of any kind puts me on edge, worries me past the point of relief. Losing myself again is something I don't want to give someone the power to do. "You don't have to take anymore medicine if you don't want too but it might make you feel better."

Stubborn as ever, she shakes her head. "No more medicine. Promise you won't let them give me anymore medicine," she begs, almost childlike. Tris closes her eyes and leans against the pillows. I know whatever they already gave her for the pain is taking it's effects, pulling her under and away from the present. "Tobias."

"Yes?" I ask, lying my head next to hers on the pillow. She plays with a strand of my hair. It's so dark compared to her own. Such a contrast. Night and day. Fire and ice. But everything fell beneath that category when it came to us.

"Adam said he knew you," she whispers. "Did you know him? Or was he just making that up?" I tell her the story, the parts I remember, about him in initiation. It isn't much but it's something. She listens. "He was angry at you for pushing him from the ranks. He was going to take it out on me. Because I'm small. And he can."

I know she's only saying these things because of the medicine. All her internal feelings are spewing from the mouth, her deepest insecurities and fears laid before me. Even after all she's been through, Tris still fears that she's not cut out to be who she wants to be. Her biggest fear. Being powerless.

"I'll kill him, you know," I say then. Her eyes are drooping and I'm not sure she can even hear what I'm saying but I say it anyway. Maybe it's better she doesn't. "I'll kill him for hurting you, I promise I will."

There's a small smile playing around her lips and she shakes her head against my shoulder. "You're crazy, Four."

...

At dawn, Christina sends me home to sleep after finding me slumped over in the hospital chair next to Tris's bed. I must have fallen asleep sometime after her, not waking up for the round of tests or the vomiting or the new injection of pain medicine I was supposed to stop them from giving her. But she'll forgive me when she's in her right mind.

I'm walking from the hospital, ignoring the looks and stares I get from other officers on the police force. Their eyes are sad. It reminds me of the Abnegation at my mother's "funeral". Pitying is all. I hate it so I turn away.

I haven't made it far. Maybe fifty feet from the hospital doors when I see him. Marcus standing near the entrance, his eyes on me as I move. Next to him, Caleb. Caleb-fucking-Prior. He's hiding behind a car, hoping I don't see him. But he's hard to miss. I turn on my heel and stomp towards them, shoving through crowds of people until they stand before me. They cower.

"What are you doing here?" I seethe. I make sure no one else can hear. I know what their doing here. There is only one reason they would be here. Why they are here together would have been a better question but the moments passed.

I look between the two of them, both similar in the clothing they wear. School teacher outfits. Caleb still stands with a sense of authority and superiority that I've always hated. My father with an uncharacteristic like calmness to him. One I've only seen when something bad is about to happen. I eye them both carefully. "I said, what are you doing here?"

Caleb is the first to speak, taking a step toward me but not to be challenging. Just to be firm. Maybe he'd grown in the years we'd spent away from one another. I really hope he had. Brothers who send their sisters to their deaths aren't really company I want to keep. "She's my sister, Tobias, and I have the right to come and see her." His words are rehearsed. "I just want to make sure she's alright."

"You want to make sure she's alright?" I ask sarcastically, taking a step towards him till our noses touch, our breaths intermingle. His eyes are hateful but I don't know if their towards me or himself. "You weren't so concerned with her safety when it really mattered, were you? In fact, you were ready to send her on her way to her death. You might as well had put the needle in Jeanine-"

"That was years ago!" He snaps without warning. And for some reason, I smile. This only angers him more and he puts a firm hand on my chest. "I don't know what was wrong with me then. But I promise you, I've paid for that many times over and you keeping me from my sister-"

I grab ahold of his wrist. "I feel you're about to cross into some territory you'd really like to avoid," I hiss. "No one is keeping you from your sister but you. Because you-"

"Tobias, have a heart." Marcus finally speaks, his eyes watery, his hands shaking. Tentative and old and cowardly. Looking at him now, I realize he's aged so much. Reaching the end of his years, the stretch between life and whatever comes next. I won't be sad to see him leave. He's been dead to me for years without any complication.

"You two would get along just fine, huh?" I say then, releasing Caleb but blocking his way to the hospital. "Two people who don't know the first thing about love and loyalty."

My plan is to push past them and continue my journey home. With the lack I've gotten from the night before and the horrible dreams I've been impaled with, the best thing for me to do would be to get away before things got bad. And knowing me they would.

But before I have the chance to move around them, Caleb grabs ahold of me again, stopping me in my tracks. I breathe the way they taught me during my initiation. The same breathing I used to control myself in my fear landscape. But it doesn't work so well and I see red. "If you knew what was good for you, you'd get your filthy hands off of me."

He releases me slowly. When I turn back to look at him, he doesn't look angry. Just sad. It reminds me so much of Tris. I look away because the last thing I'd ever want to do is compare them. "You'd just tell her I'm sorry," he mumbles. "I just want her to be okay, Tobias. That's all. I worry about her."

"As you should," I say, turning on my heel to walk away. "She's the only family you had. You've thrown that away. You don't just get to come and pick up the pieces whenever you'd like. That's not what she deserves."

"Who are you to dictate what she deserves?" He keeps up with me somehow though I can hear his labored breath. Marcus is long gone. Run off to hide within the comfort of his own home. Coward.

"I'm the only person who's still there for her, Caleb. I'm the one constantly looking out for her unlike you who only pops up when things are beneficial!" I stuff my hands in my pockets to hide the shaking. Not from fear, or sadness. Just pure anger.

Caleb's stopped running with me. I'm left alone now and I check over my shoulder once, his figure turned back towards the hospital but moving in the other direction. Away from the doors. Back towards his home, his head hung low.

I try not to feel guilty.

* * *

To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure I hate Caleb even after reading all of the books! In a way, I feel bad for him. I feel like his mind puts him in the wrong places at the wrong times and his intense need to be right and in control may cloud his judgement from time to time. I'm sure we all know people like that and can you really blame them for who they are? Well. Maybe a little.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for more. Thanks!  
-B


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